Content and news by Rob Williams

spire seems to be a company that does not mind marching to the beat of a different drummer. We have seen more boldly themed cases from Aspire than just about any other case manufacturer out there. This is not a bad thing at all though, as many, such as the X-Navigator we reviewed last year, actually represent a very good performance per dollar niche especially for the gamers out there.

This is a great looking case, great color scheme. If you need a new HTPC case, check out the review at AnandTech.

With newer power supplies becoming more efficient, Vantec has modernized their primary PSU and brought it up to current standards. We’ll be taking a look at the numbers later on, but we’ll also look into some of the other features offered besides just power levels.

Check out the full review over at TweakTown.

Leadtek’s midrange product line, which consists of 6600 and 6600GT graphics adapters, is puzzling to say the least. For instance, there are seven variants of 6600 and 6600GT cards from Leadtek. A positive aspect to this would be the fact that you can purchase what you want at a specified budget, but from a different angle, Leadtek has unnecessarily extended its product line just for diversification purposes. You must be really careful when purchasing products from Leadtek, as you can end up paying for a different model than you initially opted for.

Check out the full review over at CoolTechZone.

So what better day to do some overclocking than the 4th of July? I can’t think of one. Of course when it is 100 degrees outside you want to cool your CPU down to -40 degrees Celcius with a Prometia Mach II setup. I took my Athlon 64 FX55 San Diego core which previously we got to
3.1GHz, and decided to push it to 3.6GHz for a 1GHz overclock.

Now that is a sweet overclocked! Check it out at AMD Zone.

Ritual Entertainment’s long-awaited Sin 2 is to be released episodically over Valve’s Steam digital distribution system, with episodes lasting around six hours each to be released “every three to four months” for around $20 (£11.38) an episode.

That’s definitely a unique way to do it. Can’t wait though, as SiN was one of my favorite shooters. Check out the full posting at Eurogamer.

Once more, nVidia has fired the first salvo in the graphics card wars. This time, they’ve opened up with a 24 pipeline behemoth capable of delivering unparralled performance in the gaming and benchmarking arena.

MSI a long standing partner of nVidia’s has only after a couple of days after the lifting of the NDA released their 7800GTX variant and we take a look at it today, seeing how the 7800GTX handles itself in both single card and SLi environments and commenting on them.

Head over to sgOverclockers.

Athlon 64 FX-57 is the latest and fastest single-core CPU from AMD. In this review we will compare its performance with the previous model of Athlon 64 FX, FX-55, with Athlon 64 4000+, which is the fastest single-core CPU on Athlon 64 line, with other CPUs from AMD and also with some CPUs from Intel, like Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, Pentium 4 3.4 GHz, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.2 GHz and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.4 GHz. The only model we didn’t have available for comparison was the 3.6 GHz Pentium 4.

Check out the full review at Hardware Secrets.

SilverStone’s second attempt at CPU cooling is going on the right track with style and design. The performance still needs
a little help though, especially with the fan running on silent mode.

Check out the full review at InsaneTek.

In the high-end videocard market, the Radeon X800 XL VPU offers great value. Perhaps that’s why these cards are selling out everywhere. Today PCStats will be checking out this high-end value king in the form of the ATi Radeon X800 XL PCI Express videocard. Backed by 256MB of GDDR3 memory, a 512MB version is available also, but the extra memory does little in terms of real world performance. Like all other videocards currently on the market, the Radeon X800 XL supports S-Video/Composite TV-out as well as component output for HDTV owners.

Check out the full review at PC Stats.

The second developer snapshot, Colony 2, for the upcoming Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger) has now been released. In our initial testing, we found it to be plagued with relatively major bugs, however it included GCC 4.0.0, GNOME 2.11.1, Linux 2.6.12.2 kernel, and ALSA 1.0.9. Breezy Badger still appears to be a promising Ubuntu milestone for Linux users; if the developers can manage to work out all of flaws in time for the October 2005 release. Here are some screenshots to see the status of Breezy Badger.

It’s looking good so far, hopefully it will continue to improve! Check out all the screenshots at Phoronix.

I’m pleased to announce that the newest StraticsCast podcast has been released. In this latest podcast we are giving away two (2) pre-order copies of NCSoft/NetDevil’s Auto Assault. If you are interested in checking it out, you can head over to Stratics.

DFI knows that hardcore gamers are interested in a motherboard with huge overclockability and modding potential. We are taking a look at the UT Ultra-D NF4, which promises just that.

Much like the original, the Tech Station 2 is available either as a kit or pre-assembled. Opting for the latter will run you an extra $15 and up to two more days of processing. Personally, I would recommend anyone who purchases this kit to put it together on their own. It does take a bit of time, some sweat, and (as I later found out) a powered screwdriver, but the resulting satisfaction is worth the effort. It’s just like putting together a DIY acrylic case. Overall it measures 14″ x 13″ (version 1 measures 14″ x 8″) and stands about 8″ tall (with roughly 7″ of clearance between the two shelves). It’s available in black (shown above), white, red, green, blue, and yellow.

Check out the full review at MikhailTech.

A successful product or movie cannot go long without a sequel. Sporting a similar design but much larger body size, the Tt Golden Orb II looks to make an effort to continue the Orb’s name here in 2005. The question that remains, like the sequels to all movies, is will this be a worthwhile product or a flop? Read on and let’s take a look at the latest Thermaltake cooler, the Golden Orb II.

Check out the full review at Overclocker Cafe.

Earth 2150 is arguably both a great videogame and a classic representation of the RTS genre. Its lauded sequel hits retail shelves in mid-September of 2005, and fans of the genre are eagerly awaiting its arrival—and, based on the following, it is not difficult to see why. The graphics on display in…..

SLI motherboards are getting more and more popular as the video card prices go down, we got a sample from Gigabyte called K8nxp-sli which we have had on our test bench and thoroughly tested it with both benchmarking and overclocking. If you are in the market for something like this then you should pay attention to this review to see how these motherboards really perform.

Check out the full review over at Red & Blackness.

The latest novelty, LightScribe, is a fairly useful addition. It allows a recorder to actually label the CD (or DVD) directly. No more messy marker pens or sticky labels. Picture yourself producing professional-style labels using the same laser that burns your data, right inside your own CD/DVD drive! Is it worth it?

The whole concept seems pretty cool as a whole. But since it can take so long just to burn the image, it should definitely be considered a toy, and not really something you’d use everyday. Check out the full look at Toms.

It used to be that fans were used just for utilitarian purposes. Nowadays, however, it’s becoming increasingly popular for fans to be used for lighting up your computer and decorating computer cases as well. Computer accessory manufacturers now offer hundreds of choices for computer case fans. Today we have a new revision of the AC Ryan Blackfire4 80mm and 120mm fans for review.

Check out the full review over at Phoronix. For comparison, you can check out our review of the fans here.

Gaming headsets are all the rage these days, integrating good drivers for excellent audio reproduction with a microphone for team discussions during heated battles.

Today, we take a close look at the Icemat Siberia Multi Headset, with its unique design and cool blend of white and black. Let’s see if this is the gaming headset for you!

Head over to Rojak Pot for the full review!

Scythe is a Japanese company, which specializes in fan-less and low-noise solutions. I had never even heard of them, until last year when i got to play with a Scythe NCU-2000 which performed really well considering it’s without a fan. A few weeks back a came in to contact with Scythe again and they presented some new products. Among them was the SCNJ-1000 “Ninja” Heatpipe CPU Cooler, which was a pleasure to play with.

This is a fantastic looking heatsink, but it’s HUGE. Check out the full review at HardwareXL.